Marked for Samat Postnikov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Dec 2029
Tempers go at Irtysh
Denis Mitrofanov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Olzhas Ädil is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
David Shavlokhov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Irtysh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Irtysh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Boardroom17 Dec 2029
Irtysh keep producing them
41 graduates from an academy now rated 9 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Stepan Oganesyan has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Feb 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Irtysh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volos NPS have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Feb 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Samat Postnikov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market14 Feb 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aibol Abiken has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market14 Feb 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yeldos Dosmagambetov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market14 Feb 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nurbol Beysebekov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Irtysh are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad14 Feb 2028
At 21 nothing has moved for months. Not backwards, which would at least be a conversation — simply nowhere, and somebody at the club has to decide whose fault that is.